


What Life Would Have Been Like

by ranereins (shadowintime)



Category: Leverage
Genre: Community: angst_bingo, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-09
Updated: 2012-03-09
Packaged: 2017-11-01 16:41:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/359038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowintime/pseuds/ranereins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was jobs like this that seemed to set Parker on edge, seemed to make her lose touch with reality even more than usual.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Life Would Have Been Like

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 'Moments Lost' square of my [Angst Bingo card](http://ranereins.livejournal.com/204030.html). Beta'd by sgflutegirl

It was jobs like this that seemed to set Parker on edge, seemed to make her lose touch with reality even more than usual. Every time they ‘stole’ a school or (most especially) a college, Parker quickly and easily forgot that they were there solely because of a job and not because they were students or teachers.

Hardison remembered one job from not to long ago where Parker had done his homework for him; a ten page paper on the history of cross stitching in America. She seemed so happy to have done this for him. He should have kept his mouth shut about dropping the class that the paper had been for; she was so hurt when he told her. The look following that one, though, was one that he would never forget.

“Parker, I don’t really go to this school. You know that, right?” he’d asked.

“Pfft, yeah,” she replied, smiling and shaking her head. That brief second of disbelief hadn’t escaped Hardison though.

Parker lost herself in things so easily, but these jobs, she did nothing short of submerge herself in them. She rarely got to play the student on these jobs, but this time, Nate needed her to be one. And by God, she was. She hung on the teachers every word, spent her free time in the library and constantly had to be reminded that they were there for a purpose… that she was there for a purpose. She’d even gone so far as to don a school girl uniform. Though she stood out a little, Hardison definitely had no complaints and would have fought anyone who dared to tease her for it.

Hardison stared down at her from the second floor landing of the library. She was sitting at a table, by herself, with several books spread across the table and a notebook in front of her.

“Hardison, have you found Parker yet?” Nate asked over the earwigs.

“Yeah, just found her,” Hardison replied.

“She in the library again?” Sophie asked.

“Yeah.”

“Well grab her, we’ve got things to do,” Eliot growled, clearly unhappy that the job was being held up by Parker’s delusions.

Hardison descended the stairs and pulled up a chair beside her. “Hey Parker, whatcha doing?”

“Writing a paper on some dude called Tesla.” She turned to him with a smile and a sparkle in her eyes. “He was actually a pretty interesting guy, for someone who built a coil.”

Hardison nodded. “Yeah, he was. Hey, uh, Nate needs us.”

“Yeah, I heard.”

“Well, uh, don’t you think we should go then?”

Parker made a face. “This paper is due tomorrow.”

Hardison remembered the look on her face the last time a paper was deemed unimportant. “Alright, tell you what… after we help Nate, I will help you with your paper. We’ll stay up all night and work on it if we have to.”

Her eyes brightened and she sat up straighter. “Really? You’d do that for me?”

He smiled. “Course I will.”

Parker closed up all of the books and stuffed them into her bag. “Alright, let’s do this thingy!” she said a little too loudly, gaining shushes from several students.

 

Parker had made quick work of Nate’s assignment and they were in her dorm room with books scattered across the bed in no time.

“Hey Parker, can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” she replied, not bothering to look up from the books.

“Why are you into this whole school thing?”

“I’m not ‘into’ it.”

Hardison looked at her in disbelief. “Parker, you’re wearing a school girl uniform and writing a paper on an eccentric old dead dude. The only thing to do with eccentric old dead dudes that I’ve ever seen you take this much interest in before was a Monet or a Picasso painting.”

Parker shrugged. “Maybe I’m just into eccentric old dead dudes.”

Hardison realized that she had no idea how that sounded, so, seeing as there was no one else around, he let it slide. “Come on Parker, you can tell me. I’ll take it to the grave if that’s what you want.”

She chewed on the eraser of her pencil for a moment, thinking it over. “I don’t know, it’s just… I never really got to do this stuff before.”

“I never really got the impression that you wanted to do this sort of stuff before.”

Parker shrugged again. “Have you ever stopped to think what your life would have been like if you hadn’t been a genius hacker… or if you’d used your skills towards research or whatever?”

“Uh, no, not really.”

“You fit right in here. You could do anything you wanted… rule the internet or start the next billion dollar website or whatever.”

“Yeah, maybe. What does that have to do with you turning all school girl on us every time we go near a college.”

Parker stared intently at her books again. “I don’t know. Maybe I just… maybe I used to wish I’d had all those experiences that you get from school, like a normal person. Maybe sometimes I still do.” She fiddled with her pencil, refusing to make eye contact. “Maybe sometimes I just like to pretend.”

It was then that Hardison realized the full magnitude of all of the experiences that she’d missed out on, all those memories, all of the moments lost to Archie turning her into the thief that she was today. Sure, he hadn’t had the greatest school days… in fact, he spent most of them wishing that he was anywhere but school or that he was cooler or that the actual cool guys didn’t pick on him, but he still had the memories and experiences, quite a few of them good. He knew that Parker had to have gone to school, at least a few times, but from what he’d heard of her childhood, not a lot of it was good.

What Parker really wanted was the fantasy version, the version that you saw in the movies. She wanted to go to Hogwarts and sneak along the winding staircases at night and break into the restricted section while everyone else was asleep. But, she was willing to settle for the boring, non-magical version too. Anything was better than nothing. She just wanted everything that she’d never had before.

“I know it sounds stupid,” she began after a couple minutes of silence on Hardison’s part.

“No, I get it.” Hardison smiled. “These jobs like this, they kind of make you think about what your life would have been like if you’d done something differently, made different choices.”

“It’s kind of depressing when you put it that way.”

“Yeah, it is. But when I think about all that I’ve seen and done over the past few years, all the people we’ve helped, the fact that I never would have met you if it weren’t for all those choices, I’m happy things turned out the way that they did.”

Parker smiled. “Yeah, me too. We can still pretend from time to time though, right?”

“Hell yes we can. I intend to help you make up for every lost moment that you care about.”

“So we can go to Disney World next week?” Parker asked hopefully.

“You bet we…” Hardison started in. “Wait, what?”


End file.
